Stevie's POV
Charlie and I made our way out of Bernie's Pawn Shop and he gave me a tour of New York. From Madison Square Garden, to a few theaters. He showed me more pawn shops, and then we just walked around the city with no care in the world.
"Are all the people nice around here?" I asked him.
"There's no such thing as all nice people. Around here, there's a lot of Perfs."
"True chiz." I said as I accidentally bumped into a girl about my age. She fell to the ground resulting in all her stuff falling out of her purse. She wore a lot of makeup, high heels, a REALLY short dress, and a very interesting looking bracelet. Her hair's... Interesting.
"I'm so sorry." I said as I helped her gather her things. Well, I tried to help her. When I was a centimeter close to her comb, she slapped my hand away.
"Don't you touch my stuff." she said with a thick Jersey accent.
"Okay then?" I tried to help her up, but she ended up slapping my hand away. What a woman.
"Don't touch me either," she glared at me. "Oh hey Charlie." she said noticing Charlie at my side fluttering her eyelids smiling. Well, at least I think it's a smile. There was a lot of gum in her mouth.
"Hey." he said awkwardly.
"You two know each other-"
"Save it doll. Charlie's mine," she said and tried to flirt with him. "Where ya been Charlie? Everyone's been missing you around the neighborhood."
"I've been places. Nothing serious." he said nonchalantly.
"Who's this friend of yours? She your girlfriend or something?" she asked putting her hand on her hips.
"Oh no-"
"I was talking to Charlie." she snapped. Perf much?
"No, she's not my girlfriend." he said calmly.
"Okay then. I'll just leave you two to chat." I said gripping T as I got away from them.
"Wait up!" Charlie yelled. I looked back to see him running towards me, along with a very angry girl glaring at me.
He caught up to me, and we continued walking.
"Who is that girl? How do you know her?" I asked him.
"I grew up in the same neighborhood with her. I didn't go to school with her though. The name's Victoria Montesano. She's the Molly around here. Very Perfy."
"She has a crush on you or something?"
"No. She does that to everyone. She had a boyfriend once. I can't remember his name though."
"Why is she so mean?"
"Why is Molly so mean? We may never know. We can just ignore her. It's not like we'll see her again or anything."
"She looks oddly familiar."
"You've probably seen her in a magazine or something. She was sort of a model." he said nonchalantly.
"A model?"
"Yeah. You could tell she worked in the makeup area. Always in a makeup commercial and chiz. Not so sure about the hairspray."
"She must take her career very seriously."
"I said she was a model."
"Oh. So what happened?"
"I heard that she was a little too bossy to the camera guy. She was too moody, so she was fired. She was then blackballed."
"That's interesting. At least she does other things right? Like school and shopping?"
"I don't know. She and I weren't really close."
"Oh."
Victoria. Victoria. Why is that name so familiar?
"Is there anything else to do around here besides head to Bernie's?"
"You could always eat at The Palace."
"Okay. Then let's go."
"I'm not going to The Palace. You are."
"What?"
"Relax. I just need you to tell Diego and Martha that I'm okay." he explains.
"You haven't told them you were leaving?"
"In my defense, I left quickly. How could I tell them? They would be mad at me."
"Of course they would be mad at you! You left them without saying goodbye."
"I know it's bad, but I just want to let them know that I'm not dead or anything."
"Fine. Is there anything you should warn me about?"
"There's Lloyd and Andrew. Andrew will probably try to flirt with you, and Lloyd's harmless. Arthur, he's just yell at you if you get the place dirty or something."
"Diego and Martha. Can you tell me who they are again? My mind's kind of fuzzy."
"They were like parents to me. They work at The Palace."
"Okay then. So... Where's the restaurant?"
"It's a karaoke bar."
"Same thing."
"The Palace is over there." he said pointing to a building a few blocks away.
"Well, that was fast."
"Time flies by when you're talking to someone."
"Are you sure I should go in?" I asked him.
"Pretty sure. Oh, and tell Andrew I said hi." he said and I walked to The Palace.
The inside of The Palace looked like a dump. There was a blanket of trash laying on the floor of the karaoke bar. I saw a stage, and two boys singing off key to a song. Something told me they were Lloyd and Andrew.
In another area of the room, I saw a grumpy looking man with a mustache mopping the floor furiously.
"Stupid kid..." he mumbled repetitively. Something told me he was Arthur.
"Hello?" I asked. The three turned to me with weird looks in their eyes.
"You must be looking for me. Andrew. Sorry, but I have a girlfriend." one of the guys onstage said.
"I doubt that. I'm looking for Diego and Martha." I said, and they all freeze.
"Diego and Martha? The workers?" the old man asked.
"Yeah. Can I talk to them?"
"They're working."
"More like waiting for work."
"Fine then. DIEGO! MARTHA!" Arthur yelled. A man with a fedora and a mustache, and a woman with red hair and blue eyes entered the room through a door that I assume leads to the kitchen. Now I know why Charlie's into fedoras.
"For the last time Arthur, I do not know where Charlie is." the man said.
"Some girl over here want to talk to you two." Arthur said, and then he went back to mopping the floor. I took a picture for Charlie. Just I'm case he wanted to know about this.
Diego and Martha approached me cautiously with tiny steps. Diego gripped his spatula tightly and he aimed it at me like I'm an animal about to attack.
"Are you here for the cash? We need more time." Diego said.
"Cash? No. I'm a friend of Charlie's." I explained, and they started to relax with a smile on their faces.
"Is my baby alright? Is he lost? Hurt? What happened?"
"Did he eat alright? Where has he been?"
Wow. Charlie may have had an evil stepfather, but at least he had some parent-like people that cared about him.
"I can assure you he's fine."
"Then why couldn't he come here with you? Are you his girlfriend or something?"
Why does everybody keep asking me that?
"No. He said he didn't really want to talk to you guys. He was afraid that you guys would yell at him and be mad. He didn't want to face that."
"We wouldn't yell at him! We're Diego and Martha! If he was here right now, he would be stuffed with cheese, and he would be in his room."
"Stuffed with cheese?"
"He always liked cheese." Martha said.
"I thought you liked cheese." Diego smirked.
"Well, he can like cheese now." she retorted.
"I also have a question for you two." I said.
"Sure. We'll answer, but we have a couple questions for you." they said as they sat down at a booth in the corner. I followed them and sat across from them on the red chair.
"Fine. Ask me." I said calmly.
"How did you meet Charlie?" Martha asked me skeptically.
"Well, I met him in California-"
"California!? How the chiz did he get over there?"
"I don't know. He just came there somehow. I found him on the streets playing George-"
"George? He still has that tiny guitar of his?" Martha asked.
"Yeah. He's so possessive over it." I said.
"Well, of course. His mom gave it to him."
Then I remembered something.
"Martha? Diego?"
"Yes sweet cheeks?" Martha asked. Huh. I guess it's a New York thing.
"Charlie's mom is Lexi Prince, right?"
"Yes, that it correct."
"She told you two everything?"
"Of course! We three were very close." Martha said as I saw her eyes become shiny. But then she rubs her eyes, and she pulls herself together.
"Well, did she have twins?" I asked them. Diego's reaction stayed calm, but Martha's face froze into horror.
"Why would she have twins? If she did, she would've had both." Diego said.
"Actually..." Martha said with a guilty look.
"Martha? What do you know?" he asked her like she was a kid who had done something wrong.
"I kind of know she had two babies. Why are bringing this up anyways?" she asked me.
"We found the other twin." I said quickly. But not quickly enough.
"You found Zander Prince!?" they exclaimed.
"It's actually Zander Robbins." I said.
"Well, how did you find him?" Martha asked me.
"Well, the two are identical. It wasn't hard to tell they were twins. Anyways, what did Lexi tell you?" I asked Martha.
"Well, one night, she told me that she was gonna have twins. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough to support the two of them. Just one baby. It was hard for her, alright? She kept crying all night and chiz."
"She cried all night?"
"We were roommates back then." she said bluntly.
"Oh. Continue."
"Since she didn't have enough, she figured she better send one of the babies to someone who could support the baby. So she sent it to Robin Robbins, her ex-husband. He was an okay guy, but there were some misunderstandings and things became... Fuzzy." she said mysteriously.
"Any more questions?" I asked them.
"What's your name darling?" Martha asked me.
"Stevie Baskara." I reply with a smile.
"Diego, go fix this girl up a sandwich!" Martha said randomly. Diego smiled, rolled his eyes, and headed into the kitchen. "So Charlie and you aren't..."
"No ma'am. Besides, I came here to focus on my music."
"Why does Stevie Baskara sound so familiar..."
Oh great. She remembered my name.
"I was the musical prodigy at all those pageants." I said bluntly. I figured to just save the time instead of letting her guess for an hour.
"Oh! You were that girl? Oh, you've grown up so much! I remember you playing that ukulele while blowing on a harmonica jumping on a pogo stick. So cute!"
"Shh... Keep it down. No one should remember that."
"Oh. Sorry."
"So... Just to let you know, Charlie's okay. How's Kadee?" I asked her hoping that Kadee visited.
"Kadee's heartbroken. Ever since Charlie left, she's been making posters about Charlie being missing. I think I should tell her-"
"No!" I shouted impulsively.
"No?"
"Charlie doesn't exactly... want to ... deal with Kadee right now." I said choosing my words carefully.
"Why?"
"Isn't she dating Andrew?" I asked her.
"Kadee and Andrew have the same relationship Kadee and Finn had. I don't think they have anything going on when it comes to privacy."
"So all of that love stuff between them is just an act?"
"Listen here doll, when it comes to celebs, you kind of have to date other celebs. You know... To get more famous." she explained.
"Oh. Well, I better run. Charlie's probably waiting for me." I said.
"Thanks doll. If it wasn't for you, I would've been crying right now. Oh, and the sandwich! DIEGO!" she yelled.
"Yeah Martha! Philly coming up!"
"There's no need for that." I said, and as if on cue, my belly growled.
"Make that two Diego!" she yelled again.
"Thanks." I said as Diego came out with a doggy bag.
"Say hi to Charlie for us, will you?" Diego said with a smile.
"Sure Diego. I promise I'll come here again with Charlie and my friends, so no need to worry." I said as they both smiled and I headed off. Well, I tried to head off. That Andrew guy blocked the door.
"Go on a date with me." he said quickly.
"Why?" I asked him.
"I'll let you do it for free." he smirked.
Okay. There was only one word to describe this guy. Pervert.
"Let me get out of here." I said sternly.
"Umm... How about after you and I sing a few songs at the karaoke machine over there?" he said. I look over, and Lloyd lookedpretty uncomfortable just by looking at us.
I sighed, and then did the first thing my mom always told me to do when someone was annoying me. I never really liked doing this, but this guy was getting on my nerves.
I took my mom's lucky buttersock out of my pocket, and I whipped it across Andrew's face. It only took one whip to get him unconcious. I looked at Diego and Martha expecting them to be mad. But instead, I saw them smiling taking out markers. I looked around to see what Arthur thought, but he was busy napping with his butt in the soap bucket. Lloyd just smiled and then he started to sing offkey again.
Yeah... I should probably go... Charlie's probably waiting for me.
A/N: Yeah... I guess this was reasonably long. I just love to torture you with Starlie moments instead of Zevie moments. Testing your dedication as a Zevian... Starlian yet?
I'll give you an update on my little sis, since I love to annoy you guys. Oh... Ladies.
So afterschool, I saw her running crying or something. Then I saw her cake chasing her yelling her name. She ran into the girls restroom, and then he just waited outside. I stay afterschool, and two hours later, I see him asleep sitting against the wall snoring very lightly. My sis tried to escape the restroom very quietly, and then she glared at me to not tell anybody. Oh well.
Man, my sister has a better love life than I do.
Gimme a review? Or... A review?